After much speculation, horror author Paul Tremblay has confirmed that filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan’s upcoming film Knock At The Cabin is an adaptation of his novel The Cabin at the End of the World. While the details of the movie have been kept tightly under wraps, the brief ‘home invasion’ plot description of the movie had fans wondering, and when the title was announced, they had more reasons to draw the correlation.
Speaking of his experience to keep the secrecy around the project, Tremblay told CNBC, “I honestly spent a chunk of my 2022 spring quelling internet rumors and putting out Twitter fires connecting the book and movie. It reached a point in early June where that became impossible.” Now when the author has been cleared to speak about the project he delves, “Like the majority of adaptations, there will be story changes and differences compared to the book so my readers will still be surprised by the film.”
The project has been long coming for the author, who first signed the option with FilmNation in 2017. After a director was attached to the project, Shyamalan was interested in producing it, however that didn’t it work out. Tremblay said, “When it didn’t work out with the first director, Night was still interested in producing, which then became him wanting to rewrite the script and direct as well.” Only after Shyamalan was attached and the movie went into pre-production and production did the author “moved from cautious optimism to real-time excited.”
Knock at the Cabin stars Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, and Rupert Grint. The movie is hinted to have a '90s thriller feel. "When we were introduced via phone, Night and I discussed the book and I answered a bunch of his questions about character and story, about why I did what I did," Tremblay said. "I can’t speak to his screenwriting process...I did get to visit the set and watch him and crew work for two days. I came away impressed with the positive creative atmosphere he engendered.”
As for his excitement to see his creation coming to life on the big screen, the author said, “The Cabin at the End of the World is itself a reaction to the home invasion film subgenre. Most of me is excited and intrigued at the prospect of seeing my story reimagined or refracted on screen.”
Knock At The Cabin will premiere in theaters on February 3, 2023.